Sooner or later a predator will emerge. Case in point: stinkbugs. They disappeared almost entirely from my area a few weeks ago. I suppose something must be eating them...or they are regrouping for a new offensive.

I don't normally condone targeting of species, but this is a clear case where it's necessary. Those things eat WAY too much, and they can live through anything. Not to mention it really sucks getting stung by one.

In my previous life working in a saltwater fish store, I was trying to catch a fish for a customer. I had forgotten about the 2" long lion fish in the tank. It was hiding behind a chunk of coral. It nailed me the my middle finger.

I went into a panic and went to call the boss. In the meantime, my entire hand swelled up like a balloon! I was like, "SHIAT!! THAT HURT!!" Then I was wondering if I had to go to the ER.As it turns out, running very hot water over the wound was enough to get the poison out.

There's your education for the day. So, if you happen to get stung by a lion fish, you'll know what to do.

Let's point the finger at the one thing that has caused the spread of invasives like lionfish and pythons in the everglades: These stupid licensing laws. Humans are great at causing a species to go extinct. When Pythagator (look it up) popped up in the news, me and a dozen friends woulda spent the weekend shooting pythons out in the everglades. But we couldn't - because of these assinine licensing requirements. Same thing with the lionfish. Once they become normal, instead of a brand new invader, people won't be motivated to go after them. We coulda fished those things out of existence, but when the state puts all these hurdles in the way, fark it, let it go.

I have scuba dived since 2005. At that time I never saw a Lionfish. On a recent trip to Roatan they told me that they spotted their first one a couple of years ago, and now we saw them everywhere. A researcher there told me they have been spotted as deep as 800 feet, so hunting them in not likely to wipe them out. Apparently they have no natural predators in the Caribbean. The divemaster was trying to teach the local eels to eat them (spear one and feed it to an eel he knew lived nearby). It is very discouraging to see a species this destructive thriving to this extent.

rugmannm:I have scuba dived since 2005. At that time I never saw a Lionfish. On a recent trip to Roatan they told me that they spotted their first one a couple of years ago, and now we saw them everywhere. A researcher there told me they have been spotted as deep as 800 feet, so hunting them in not likely to wipe them out. Apparently they have no natural predators in the Caribbean. The divemaster was trying to teach the local eels to eat them (spear one and feed it to an eel he knew lived nearby). It is very discouraging to see a species this destructive thriving to this extent.

rugmannm:I have scuba dived since 2005. At that time I never saw a Lionfish. On a recent trip to Roatan they told me that they spotted their first one a couple of years ago, and now we saw them everywhere. A researcher there told me they have been spotted as deep as 800 feet, so hunting them in not likely to wipe them out. Apparently they have no natural predators in the Caribbean. The divemaster was trying to teach the local eels to eat them (spear one and feed it to an eel he knew lived nearby). It is very discouraging to see a species this destructive thriving to this extent.

There's some talk that the jewfish might be in the process of developing a taste for them. Unless something like that happens, there's not much we can do but watch.

Put a bounty on them. Use the power of the market to wipe out the species locally.

A pet lionfish goes for something like $30 retail at Petco. Set the bounty at $5 per fish, and bingo. Since lionfish are so distinctive, it's not likely that people hunting them are going to mistake them for any native species, and you'll have thousands of teens and out of work people able to make some money doing this.

halB:Let's point the finger at the one thing that has caused the spread of invasives like lionfish and pythons in the everglades: These stupid licensing laws. Humans are great at causing a species to go extinct. When Pythagator (look it up) popped up in the news, me and a dozen friends woulda spent the weekend shooting pythons out in the everglades. But we couldn't - because of these assinine licensing requirements. Same thing with the lionfish. Once they become normal, instead of a brand new invader, people won't be motivated to go after them. We coulda fished those things out of existence, but when the state puts all these hurdles in the way, fark it, let it go.

No, actually, looking up that made up word was not helpful, not even on UD. I found this cute little gem though:

Mixolydian Master:I would be afraid to prepare one and jab myself on one of those toxic fins.

A friend of mine has the same fear. So much so that he lays a pastry scraper over the spines when he starts to filet them. It makes sense because you never know when a freshly caught fish is in fact completely lifeless or or just not moving.